The year 2013 has been tumultuous in Indian politics. But people
of India haven’t ever experienced such unprecedented frenzy about politics as
evidenced in this year. Undoubtedly the new discovery in the political arena is
Arvind Kejriwal who has single-handedly vowed to change the contour of Indian
Political history. He is the Person of the year.
The genesis of the Aam Aadmi Party drew flaks from all
corners including those from the mentor and Guru of AK. Politics as a field was
scorned and politicians were treated with contempt by general public. Six
decades of independence have witnessed severe erosion of values and morals in
this class. It has become synonymous to
the class of people with name, fame, power, wealth and muscle. Ordinary men and
women even dread the idea of revamping rotten political system and gradually it
was considered as the most unceremonious way of serving nation.
Assembly elections have come at a crucial phase when people
have almost given up any hope for revival. Not that people have become
pessimistic, but even by international standards the levels of corruptions are
overboard. The latest global perception index by the transparency international
ranked India 94th among the 177 nations. On a scale of 0-100 India
scored 36 points where 0 means a clean country while 100 means highly corrupt.
Our country has started falling down in the corruption indices. Corruption seems to be rampant with more and
more scams being unearthed every day. People have become despondent. They
desperately needed change. The anger of the nation and especially the youth is
more evident by frequent protest, rallies hitting the roads of the capital
city. In almost all these protests common man have eagerly come forward and
participated in this show of anger. Another striking example has been the
overwhelming support received by the Jan Lok Pal Bill initiated by Anna Hazare,
where he literally mobilised the entire nation. People are seething with anger
and are feeling cheated. They desperately wanted some change, drastic and
reliable; a new change which could revive their lives spirits and bring back
some hope the system and governance. They were fed up of the false promises, of
free bounties offered by the politicians. The capital city especially is
plagued by problems which made people more hostile. Being the hub of all
political activity common man had to face the brunt of power politics making
the things even worse.
The only ray of hope in this situation was the Aam Aadmi
Party which hadn’t promised them of a heaven, but assured them of safe drinking
water, power, infrastructure, corruption free governance and the real democracy
(or the Swaraj) as they called it. They had 70 different manifestos for each of
the constituencies. They approached the common man and promised them of the
basic necessities. They had firm roots at the base and many people voluntarily
canvassed about the party and their ideology which was simple and clear, a war
against corruption.
With Arvind Kejriwal, the founder of the Aam Aadmi Party, a
party with 9 months of history, taking the oath as the chief minister of Delhi,
a new era has dawned in Indian Politics. This has symbolised the resurgence India
middle class their hopes and aspirations. AAP has
redefined the politics by its unique, thrifty and reliable campaigning mode.
The volunteers as the workers called themselves believed in door to door campaigning
and of course election results have shown how the diligence and commitment have
worked. AAP party which had modest funds have managed to successfully topple
the richly funded campaigns of the national parties. With the result a common
man with absolutely no political connections and affiliations had created a
history in Indian politics by becoming chief minister of the capital state.
The decision to form the government came as a rude shock for
all the political jacks. It was the most politically unanticipated jolt for BJP
which in spite of emerging as biggest vote winner decided against formation of
government. AAP as a fledgling political party and a novice surprised all with
their novel political strategies. Nearly all the parties have stumbled when
they sought referendum from people about the government formation. Amidst of
mockery they emerged victorious and decided to form a minority government. Every
day they are creating flutter by their unprecedented moves like doing away with
red beacons, security, government bungalows and other traditional baggage which
comes with the plum posts.
As other national political parties are crying hoarse, of
some political match –fixing, undeterred AAP is going ahead with its manifesto.
Just as a common man, AK took the oath. Irrespective of what he is going to
deliver, till now he has played the game of politics in a way no one has ever
dared to play. Even the average age of his cabinet is around 40, making it the youngest
cabinet that existed in India so far. All the dirty tricks of mudslinging,
horse trading and making severe allegations of money exchange have failed to
tarnish the image of AK so far. Despite treacherous game plays, he emerged out
as a person of strong conviction.
NaMo has begun his election campaign much ahead by touring
vastly across different venues in India mostly wooing the young with his
development manifesto. But now AAP is tipped to cut into the major electoral
gains of BJP with its anti-corruption slogan which has attracted the attention
of the urban middle class. Earlier all the educated youth who have given up
their Adult Franchise realised its potential as a most powerful weapon enforced
their rights. They have participated in recent polls with renewed enthusiasm
turning the tables in favour of new change. Thus these Assembly polls and
results had an astounding effect marking the beginning of awakening of the
assertive middle class. The tech savvy and social media activists have in
innumerable ways have been the great motivation for the new change. The urban
constituencies alone account for about 170-190 seats. It would be interesting
scenario to watch how the AAP wave would blow out the anti-congress bubble.
Political analysts believe that BJP is tipped to stand as a
loser in this political massacre as it has singularly invested on its lone
candidate much ahead of the elections. It started blowing its own trumpet too
loud ignoring the resonating effect of AK. All the political parties were
shocked by the reverberating display of AAP in Delhi. This victory has turned
tables and sent all the parties to the desk again to redraw their plans. They
are now forced to chalk out their strategies which are more people-oriented and
manifestos driven by people’s immediate needs. The assertive middle class has
found their saviour in form of AK and now they have truly vouched for him.
Though the possibility of resounding performance for a debutant on the national
arena is still not brushed, it still remains a bigger challenge to all other
parties. India which has endorsed its vision to gerontocracy has found its new
masters in the emerging younger generation.
As the general elections are due in less than six months all
the attention is focussed on the political arena of country. Earlier it was
thought to be a battle between the two big-wigs Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi.
But with the sudden surge of AAP and with political parties of third front
pitching high for AK, there is a serious concern about AK derailing the
election campaign of NaMo. It doesn’t call for extraordinary intellect to say
that general elections would see a newcomer and clearly the rivalry is pitched
between three leaders- Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi.
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